Having made so much progress towards the Fibonacci Sequence, I couldn't pass up the chance to run event 610 at Gorleston Cliffs today! As an added bonus, a third "G" event also means completing Stayin' Alive challenge - three "Bee"s and three "Gee"s!
The area
Gorleston Cliffs is located at the eastern boundary of Gorleston. The town of Gorleston lies south of Great Yarmouth, on the opposing bank of the river Yare, and is a popular destination for beach breaks owing to its sandy beach. The town was historically considered to be part of Suffolk, with the river proving a natural boundary, however, the town officially became part of Norfolk in 1835, owing to its close ties with neighbouring Great Yarmouth.
The Gorleston Cliffs run the length of the town's border with the North Sea, with facilities including tennis courts, basketball courts, gardens, shops, and cafes along its length, as well as providing an excellent view over the bay's sandy beach, and out to the offshore windfarm.
The course
The course follows just under two laps of an almost out-and-back route along the seafront, with the start located at the top of the cliffs, and the finish located at the bottom. Owing to the start / finish configuration, runners climb the cliff once, and descend twice resulting in a net elevation decline over the whole route. In addition to the net decline, the course is run entirely on tarmac, resulting in the potential for a fast run (though the one hill will probably limit any PB potential).
Parking is available along the length of Marine Parade, in addition to a number of free car parks. Public toilets are available in several locations along the promenade, including near the start area, as well as a range of cafes and other places offering refreshments.
The run
Upon arriving, I was immediately reminded of Clacton Seafront parkrun, which has a very similar layout, with street parking a short distance from the multi-level course along the seafront, except it was slightly cooler when I ran at Clacton!
After a quick warm up, it was time for the first timer's welcome, where it became evident just how many other people were chasing their Fibonacci sequence while enjoying a day at the beach, with many tourists in attendance!
After a quick summary of the Fibonacci Sequence, and highlighting that Gorleston Cliffs is actually the 14th ever parkrun which is what's allowed it to reach this milestone, we were off! The heat was a big factor in today's run, along with the flies! Flies were everywhere at the start area, landing and distracting runners, and they didn't relent during the run! Around 3.5km, we were attacked again by an entire swarm, which suprised the runners ahead of me, but gave me chance to close my mouth before reaching them! The really suprising thing about the flies, was that none were to be found when I was running on the same paths after the event!
Thanks to all of the smiley marshalls for helping with today's event, who seemed to be positioned almost every 100m, and well done to all of the tourists who were also ticking off event 610!
After the run
After the run, I decided to take advantage of the relaxed reputation of the area explore the area in the warm weather. I repeated the course to add some extra distance to my running, before wandering around the town. The town has a strong maritime history, which was evident just walking along the river Yare.
After exploring the town, I also wandered along the cliffs, which includes gardens, tennis courts, basketball courts, and plenty of benches to relax, as well as the beach, which was very pleasant thanks to the nice weather.
